-
It is 125 years today since Yasunari Kawabata was born.
Yasunari Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer born in Osaka. He came from an educated, wealthy family, but he lost his parents at an early age and his only sibling, a sister, died when he was nine years old. These childhood traumas came to inform his writing. After growing up with his maternal grandfather in the countryside, Kawabata read English and Japanese literature at...
-
It is 113 years today since Victor Canning was born.
Victor Canning was a British author of humorous adventure stories and thrillers. He was born in Plymouth, Devon. At the outbreak of the First World War, while his father was doing his military service, he went with his mother and siblings to live with his uncle in Calstock, a few miles north of Plymouth. This was where Canning fell in love with the English countryside, which features prominently...
Sample of Authors
Runcie, James
1959 -
James Robert Runcie is an author, documentary film maker, television producer and playwright. He was born in Cambridge and...
Further reading
Laxness, Halldór
1902 - 1998
Icelandic author born in Reykjavik as Halldór Guðjónsson. When he was three years old his parents, Guðjón Helgason and Sigr...
Further reading
Enzensberger, Hans Magnus
1929 - 2022
The German author and poet Hans Magnus Enzensberger was the oldest of four brothers born to middle-class parents in the...
Further reading
Gustafsson, Lars
1936 - 2016
The Swedish author Lars Gustafsson was born in Västerås where his father was a merchant. He passed his baccalaureate in 1...
Further reading